January 14th 2026 年1月14日

🔶 Last week I mentioned kimonos, parasols, ladies playing the koto and neon flashing cities. Well, being winter, parasols are a rare sight, but not unknown. As for kimonos, well, ladies will never miss an opportunity to wear one – be it to a special event like a concert or a festival…or an exhibition, like this one in Roppongi….a rather smart area of Tokyo.

…………..In the The Suntory Museum of Art

Of course the disgraceful westerner was content to go casual……

But his companion had other ideas…..

🔶 The range of designs available for kimonos seems endless – here are some samplers from a shop in Tokyo…

🔶 And back home in Hoshikawa you can’t have a tea ceremony without kimonos. So Misako-san and Sayuri-san gave some expert instruction to our two guests from Germany…

….It’s very difficult to put them on by yourself…..

Happy smiles….

🔶 Now it’s Nigel’s turn to whip up his Matcha tea…..He looks like he’s trying too hard….

He’s more at home wandering the backstreets of Hoshikawa…taking sneak pictures of Yokohama…..

…or the neighbour’s citrus tree….

🔶 Now he’s met up with his Frankfurt pal Benedikt for a “European” chat, then with the rest of the family at Kikuna Ice rink, where Ema-chan has been swirling around, full of energy……..

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🔶 The big adventure. Tomoko has booked a passage on the Ogasawara Maru to the Bonin Islands. These islands lie about 1000km south East of Tokyo in the middle of, well, nowhere really.

Japan really does have some extraordinary contrasts. In the north the snow is deep and there is even an ice festival. If you go far enough you meet Russia. In the south it’s sub-tropical, and you eventually meet Taiwan.

🔶 The Bonin or Ogasawara Islands have only one connection to the mainland. And that is this aforementioned cargo/ferry ship. It only sails once a week!

We meet at Takeshiba pier in Tokyo and lug our luggage aboard…See that crane on the right?

🔶 Well, these containers have food for the shops, noodles for the restaurants, plus construction tools, post, wood, pipes, metal…anything really – even a small van.

We pull out of Tokyo harbour….

🔶 My experiences of ferries are limited to European cross-channel trips. Drive on/drive off jobs. So this 24-hour trip to the islands left behind some strong impressions. We are here in a different category altogether.

🔶 “Sunrise, sunset ” except that contrary to the song in Anatefka, it’s Sunset, Sunrise… Having left Tokyo at 11am, we were well under way by late afternoon……

In the evening we passed one of the many islands that lie like a string of scattered pearls in the Pacific Ocean….

🔶And then...the night: Staring out from the lower deck there is nothing but pitch black darkness. I am reminded of a phrase in Vaughan Williams’ “Serenade to Music”…….”….soft stillness, and the night….“

Nothing. Until you climb up to Deck 7 ……No ship lights on the horizon, no moon (yet)…How did those early mariners feel without the blazing lights of the modern ship?

Starlight Express…..

I lay down on my back and stared heavenwards….

…………….

And then there was the moon…….

🔶 No internet : But helpful modern technology. Like my noise-reducing, bluetooth headphones. I lie down in my bunk bed and listen to a Mendelssohn piano sonata. Oblivious to the throb of the ships engines….

🔶 Passengers: About 50 maybe. The ship feels quite empty…

They gather in little groups – the islanders all know each other and soon a drinks party is underway. There is a funny-looking man in a black office coat (The Man in the Mac), there are young lovers – mostly students – clean shaven men and shy girls – all dressed in that casual but tasteful style that the Japanese are so adept at.

I count all but three foreigners. 1 unshaven American, 1 serious German engineer with a huge camera (who tells me all about offshore windmills and how difficult they are to build here – the ocean being at least 1 kilometre deep) and myself (tourist, family friend, chamber music addict).

🔶 Civilization: After 24 hours the bathrooms and toilets are still immaculate. The drinkers clean up their table, using the dishcloth provided. The staff empty the rubbish bins. The ship is clean.

No half-empty crisp packets. No beer cans rolling on the floor.

🔶 Eating: There is a quiet cafeteria, a busy lounge and a self-service kitchen rather like that in a youth hostel, with hot water and vending machines….and free chopsticks…

🔶 For those who simply want to read a book : Quiet enclaves with an eclectic mixture of plastic and wooden chairs. Quirky and refreshing to the eye. Note the chain…typhoon or no typhoon…gotta keep reading that Joseph Conrad….

🔶 Notices and announcements: Too many of them. But really, I am being a bit critical here, for some are really useful….

🔶 Crossing climate zones: On going out on deck the next morning at sunrise a strange new warm wind ruffles my hair.

In Tokyo it was thick winter jacket, scarf and woolly hat. Here, leaning over the rail wearing a shirt and thin trousers one of the questions was – what shall I do with those clothes now?

The light turned to lovely shades of blue as day dawned….

How could anyone think that the earth is round? It is obviously flat isn’t it…….

We have arrived.

🔶 The Ogasawara Maru is now docked at the harbour and will remain there until it returns to Tokyo in three days time.

🔶 Suddenly it feels like a real holiday. It’s the vegetation which strikes us first….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogasawara_subtropical_moist_forests

The hibiscus flower is everywhere….

…and the first beach. Not of sand, but of millions of fragments of coral…cameras springs into action….

Coral…..

🔶 The islands have a tricky past. With sporadic colonization by the Portugese, the Dutch, the British and the Americans since the Edo-era. And in World War II, bitter fighting in the Pacific war……

…..subsequent neglect and eventual restoration to Japan in the 1960s.

🔶 On our first walk we encounter the Shinto shrine, so essential for the many who have died here, either through conflict or shipwreck….

🔶 The weather is kind to us as we hike along the coast (I am glad I brought my hiking boots, for the terrain is sometimes quite steep and rocky- though paved around the observation posts)

A view down to the harbour…

Our host drives us to a popular bathing and snorkelling spot…..

🔶 Sometimes we see plants whose poor relatives adorn the offices of Frankfurt, or are sold in pots in Ikea…

lunch snack is rolled rice balls and green tea…

…..imported cats nearly destroyed the population of these ground-feeding pigeons….There is now not one single cat here…

clams from the beach…

A climb up a hill is rewarded by a stunning view…

Your author poses….

Other non-furry friends can be fed…

Turtles. They are monitored at a research station nearby….

🔶 Unfortunately, due to an impending storm, our ship has to sail back to Tokyo a day early. We are given a warm farewell from our host, Shima-san….

And a send off from the local Taiko drummers…

……along with a farwell flottila of small ships as we leave the harbour…

🔶 It may be strange to say it, but I felt deeply moved by this show of gratitude and well-wishing from the islanders. This is not just a show for tourists. A young mother, with an infant asleep on her shoulder, says goodbye to her parents. A diving crew cheer on their colleagues. An old man waves his stick at us passengers on the deck. The ship is an integral part of this community. There is no airstrip. Indeed, there is literally no other way to reach this place.

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Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

See you またね 🙋‍♂️

nigelwruddock@gmail.com

https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

The End

終わり🐬